This was one of the Midwest's best festivals. On a sunny weekend they would get 20,000 people attending. They gave 180GO! their own field, bleachers and sound system. And that's In addition to the performance field. They also had a field set aside just for sport kites, and one for AKA members, tons of room for SLKs. And the PIGS Aloft hosts were the greatest. I'm really sorry to see this one go.Here's the email I received:

Hi Mike,

You may have heard from our friends with PIGS Aloft; but I am writing tolet you know that due to ongoing construction at Voice of America Parkas well as the loss of our presenting sponsor WGUC has decided that wecannot go forward with organizing and presenting the Airwaves KiteFestin the upcoming years. The construction challenges were great and madereplacing the funding almost impossible. This was a difficult and saddecision for us, especially because of all the wonderful friends we havemade over the years. This especially includes you and the members of180GO!

The KiteFest would not have experienced the success and with growth thatit had without your participation and tremendous support year afteryear. We are so grateful! Please extend our appreciation to everyone.

We always enjoyed working with you and having you in Cincinnati. We hopethat opportunity may come again.

All the best to you! You have our wishes for good winds and happy times!

Thanks for volunteering Shari! If you do want to do this, there is a guide to putting on a festival at the AKA site somewhere. Rope in the Stephenson's and their kite store too. Also, delegate duties to others in the club.

Bummer. I'd heard that this might happen from a couple of PIGS Aloft leaders at the September HKS fly. Airwaves was closer to home than any other significant festival. We could easily get there in three hours. GLKF in Grand Haven requires five. And anything north of Chicago ... well, it's four hours to O'Hare, so you get the idea.

Its unfortunate That some of these events go away for many reasons,Economy being the main . Kitevoice there are still plenty of events up too the 4 hour point in Il. some great ones check our site for details. www.chicagokite.com/festivals.html and the pigs aloft and other groups are always welcome. I heard there some talk of Decatur being on this weekend we will just have to see next few weeks.